Conventionally known liquid crystal display apparatuses utilize a backlight, and for example, concrete examples thereof include a direct type backlight in which a light source unit including a light emitting device is disposed in the rear of a liquid crystal panel, and an edge-lighting type backlight in which a light source unit including light emitting devices arranged in line is disposed while facing to the end portion of a light guide plate. The present invention specifically aims to provide a semiconductor light emitting apparatus for use in the latter edge-lighting type backlight.
As the thinning of profiles of the liquid crystal display apparatus progresses, the light guide plate and the light source for an edge-lighting type backlight are also required to be thinned. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-105173 (US2009/0103005A1 corresponding thereto) discloses a light source module having a structure in which the upper surface of a light source device (LED chip) faces to the end of a light guide plate, thereby making its profile thinned and reducing the used amount of a sealed resin. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-59612 discloses a light emitting diode of side emission type. The light emitting diode includes substrates provided above and below the components, a light emitting device interposed between the substrates and having a side facing to an end of a light guide plate, a reflector surrounding three sides of the light emitting device other than the side closer to the light guide plate, and a transparent resin with which a space defined by the substrates and the reflector is filled.
Hereinafter, a description will be given of a conventional semiconductor light emitting apparatus utilizing a light emitting diode as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-59612 with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. The semiconductor light emitting apparatus of so-called side-view type includes a light emitting device 102, of which a side surface faces to an end of a light guide plate, a substrate 100, a side member 104, and an upper substrate 105. The light emitting device 102 is disposed within a cavity defined by the substrate 100, the side member 104, and the upper substrate 105 and having a light projecting outlet 103 at its one side. It should be noted that the inner surface of the cavity can also serve as a reflecting surface, and the deepest side is called as a reflector 101 hereinafter. The cavity is filled with a transparent sealing material 106.
In the above-configured light emitting apparatus, when the light emitting device 102 is activated, light can be emitted from its entire peripheral surfaces. In this case, the light emitting device 102 can emit light toward the reflector 101 of the side member 104 (in the rearward direction) which is opposite from the light projecting outlet 103. The light can be reflected by the reflector 101 to be directed to the light projecting outlet 103. This means the light must travel a longer optical path from the light emitting device 102 via the reflector 101 to the light projecting outlet 103. The sealing material 106 existing in the optical path can attenuate the light more.
In order to cope with this problem, a semiconductor light emitting apparatus as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B has been devised. The semiconductor light emitting apparatus includes a light emitting device 102 that is in contact with a reflector 101 at the rear surface of the light emitting device 102. However, when manufacturing such a semiconductor light emitting apparatus as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, there are the following problems.
FIG. 3A shows a typical manufacturing step of such a semiconductor light emitting apparatus as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In this case, when the light emitting device 102 is disposed within a cavity, the light emitting device 102 is sucked by a suction jig 107 at the tip end of the jig 107 to be moved for positioning. In order to manufacture the semiconductor light emitting apparatus as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the light emitting device 102 must be precisely disposed so that it is brought into contact with a side member 104. However, the control of the jig 107 is not so easy.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, if the outer diameter of the suction jig 107 is larger than that of the light emitting device 102, when the suction jig 107 is lowered while sucking the light emitting device 102, the suction jig 107 collides with the side member 104. Accordingly, the light emitting device 102 cannot be disposed while being in contact with the side member 104.
In order to cope with this problem, it is conceivable that the diameter of the suction jig 107 can be reduced as shown in FIG. 3C. However, also in this case, when the movement accuracy of the suction jig 107 is low in the direction toward the main surface of the substrate 100, the light emitting device 102 may collide with the upper surface of the side member 104. Accordingly, it is difficult to dispose the light emitting device 102 while being brought into contact with the side face of the side member 104 with high accuracy.